What follows is my general philosophy on China issues, by way of answering the hardest of hard defense framing questions regarding China. After my most recent piece in Foreign Affairs, I got a note from a semi-prominent friend in Washington's foreign policy...
In the old old question of why the weak occasionally beat the strong, my favourite metaphor is the Ham Omelette. In a Ham Omelette, the chicken is involved but the pig is committed. In a clash over...
Hawai'i isn't the only colonial possessionto get the inset treatment. Although the authors of the Duck of Minerva do not condone, endorse, or even take seriously this proposal, we do want to bring...
Statue Outside the Guingtou Battle Museum(Photo: Dan Nexon)Note: this is the second post stemming from my June trip to Taiwan. The first is available here.Seven years ago Bill Petti wrote a piece at...
Taipei 101Photo Credit: Dan NexonI spent 2-9 June in Taiwan on a trip sponsored by the government of the Republic of China. Taipei funds these trips, and others like them, as part of an effort to influence academics and opinion-leaders; while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MOFA) would certainly be pleased if its outreach resulted in more voices advocating on behalf of ROC interests, it would, I think, be satisfied if we simply paid more attention to Taiwan.As one of the China experts on the trip explained to me, Taipei has seen a significant loss of influence in the United States. Many of...
I've been meaning to write substantive posts about my recent trip to Taiwan, but between the time change, conference prep, and getting sick, I haven't had the time. In the interim, I found a video of the knife-making process at Maester Wu knives on Kinmen. Kinmen (aka Jinmen aka Quemoy) was repeatedly, and intensively, shelled by the People's Republic of China in 1958. Maester Wu Bombshell Steel Knives took advantage of the cheap source of steel and produces kitchen, hunting, and utility blades. The knives can be bought through limited online outlets; the factory pictured above has become a...